If Your Heart Is Like Mine...

I frequently marvel at others perceptions of me. In my church in Council Bluffs, I am a radical, tree-hugging, vegetarian Californian. In our Academy, Winter and I seem to have been pegged for conservative right-wing evangelicals. I have been accused of being a "white male oppressor chauvinistic pig" at my college. And, some how or another, someone at the Board of Ordained Ministry in the Cal-Nevada Conference was so threatened by me that they tried really hard to "black ball" my ordination.

Given that my perception of myself is that of a moderate liberal, I find these views somewhat mind boggling. I do hold some radically liberal ideas when it comes to living out our faith in Jesus. I tend to be a fiscal conservative when it comes to politics.

My point here is that I wonder if in trying to identify who is "with us" and who is "against us" in our political battles both professionally and and in our country that we are missing the forest for the trees.

Let me give you an example: When we were trying to plant a new church in Spanish Springs, NV, some of the most welcoming, caring and radically helpful people to us were conservative, evangelical business owners. They worked with us to try to grow the church and the Kingdom of God. Some of the most obstructive, unwelcoming and uncaring were our local brother and sister United Methodists!

Sometimes we seem to get so wrapped up in the labels we place on each other, not only do we fail to work together, we do overt and covert harm to each other! What a tragedy.
Jim Griffith said at Church Planters Boot Camp, "When you choose to plant a new church; you, your family, friends, house have all just inherited a t-shirt with a bullseye painted on it because the enemy is now out to get you." At the time, Winter and I laughed and said quietly to each other, "That's not part of our theology but that's nice to know." We're not laughing now. Anyone who has attempted or succeeded in planting a new church knows Jim Griffith is right. This makes sense due to the immutable laws of physics. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."

So, if we are going to be about the business of doing God's work, if we are going to go around working with God to build the Kingdom of God, we better be ready for some push back whether you name that Satan or negative spiritual energy or whatever! If we are going to work for God, we are in for the fight of our lives! We've got a great ally in God but, frankly, I want more. I want a group of colleagues that have my back. I want a group of colleagues who, like police officers and soldiers, realize that the only way we're going to make it is if we care for and protect each other. The community of faith is the primary way God has chosen to work in the world. Our petty arguments and power trips and working to build our own little private kingdoms are a betrayal of our call.

I will work passionately with anyone who is focused on working for making peace, justice, health, well-being and joy the rule in life regardless of denomination, political self-identification or theological outlook. In other words, anyone working to make the Kingdom of God a reality now, I want to work with.